Bengali Wedding - Traditions and Rituals
The Bengali culture calls for a long, intense, and joyful wedding celebration filled with many rituals and relatives. Bengali weddings can be recognized by the blowing of conch shells and ululation by the women relatives of the happy couple. Traditionally, Shehnai music is played by live musicians for the ceremony to draw attention to the beautiful union of two individuals and to symbolize social declaration of two families joining in a special bond.
Adan Pradan
The elders of the couple that wishes to engage in matrimony will sit down with a Purohit (Priest) and discuss the future marriage of the couple. They discuss family history to determine that there is no blood related lineage between the couple and they traditionally ensure that the status of the two individuals match. After the approval of the couple by the elders, they will discuss a wedding date with the Purohit accordinf to the Indian calendar.
Ashirbaad
One or two days before the Begali wedding ceremony takes place, a confirmation of the marriage alliance must be made with the Purohit. The door of the entrance of either the bride or groom’s home is decorated with a string of mango leaves that will remain as a symbolic decoration until the couple’s one year anniversary. During this confirmation, the bride is gifted with a sari, while the groom is gifted with a ring, gold, and a watch.
Horud Kota
This is a small ceremony that takes place in many South Asian cultures. The married women on the bride’s side of the family will mix turmeric powder with water to create a paste and rub it on the bride’s skin to brighten up her complexion and make her skin glow.
Vridhi
The day before the Bengali wedding ceremony, the Purohit visits the bride and groom at their respected homes and offers a prayer to their ancestors who won’t be present at the wedding ceremony.
Dodhi Mangal
Before the sun rises on the day of the Bengali wedding ceremony, about seven to ten married women take the engaged couple to a pond and invite Goddess Ganga to the wedding by bringing back a pitcher of water to bathe the bride and groom in. The engaged couple can only eat during this time on their entire wedding day and they are offered fried fish, curd, and flattened rice. The women will adorn the bride’s hands with traditional red and white bangles.
The Bengali Wedding Ceremony
Traditionally, the mothers of the bride and groom do not attend the Bengali wedding ceremony to protect the couple from the evil eye, or Najer. However Najer traditions have been modernized and the mothers usually accompany their husbands and all their relatives at the ceremony so long as the bride and groom both have a small black dot hidden away somewhere on their body.
Traditionally, the Bengali wedding ceremony takes place at the bride’s home. The groom arrives with his Bor Jatri and his entire side of the family blows conch shells and rings bells to introduce him to the ceremony site (which is traditionally the bride’s home). The bride is brought in by her maternal uncle and he gives her away. The Purohit will then enter with an idol of God and begin the Bengali wedding ceremony. The Purohit conducts the remainder of the ceremony with various cultural and religious rituals such as exchanging garlands. When the Purohit completes the wedding ceremony, the couple will rejoice with their friends and family it what is modernly called a wedding reception. Entertainment at this celebration traditionally includes poetry, jokes, songs, and dancing with all the guests.
The day before the Bengali wedding ceremony, the Purohit visits the bride and groom at their respected homes and offers a prayer to their ancestors who won’t be present at the wedding ceremony.
Dodhi Mangal
Before the sun rises on the day of the Bengali wedding ceremony, about seven to ten married women take the engaged couple to a pond and invite Goddess Ganga to the wedding by bringing back a pitcher of water to bathe the bride and groom in. The engaged couple can only eat during this time on their entire wedding day and they are offered fried fish, curd, and flattened rice. The women will adorn the bride’s hands with traditional red and white bangles.
The Bengali Wedding Ceremony
Traditionally, the mothers of the bride and groom do not attend the Bengali wedding ceremony to protect the couple from the evil eye, or Najer. However Najer traditions have been modernized and the mothers usually accompany their husbands and all their relatives at the ceremony so long as the bride and groom both have a small black dot hidden away somewhere on their body.
Traditionally, the Bengali wedding ceremony takes place at the bride’s home. The groom arrives with his Bor Jatri and his entire side of the family blows conch shells and rings bells to introduce him to the ceremony site (which is traditionally the bride’s home). The bride is brought in by her maternal uncle and he gives her away. The Purohit will then enter with an idol of God and begin the Bengali wedding ceremony. The Purohit conducts the remainder of the ceremony with various cultural and religious rituals such as exchanging garlands. When the Purohit completes the wedding ceremony, the couple will rejoice with their friends and family it what is modernly called a wedding reception. Entertainment at this celebration traditionally includes poetry, jokes, songs, and dancing with all the guests.
The Mandap Ceremony
This is traditionally a separate ceremony than the wedding ceremony and takes place the morning after the wedding reception. The groom applies a tikka of vermilion to the bride’s forehead to symbolize that she is a married woman. The Purohit will then worship the Sun God and the couple will recieve blessings from their elders and then go to the groom’s home.
Arrival at the Groom’s Home and Bou Bhat
When the newlyweds arrive as the groom’s home, the women in his family pour water on the ground under the car they arrive in before they exit the vehicle. The women then wash the feet of the bride with milk and flour to welcome her into the groom’s home. In some families, the bride will imprint the soles of her feet as a memory of the first time she steps into the groom’s home. The bride then enters the home and is warmly welcomed with sweets.
Blessings are offered to the newlywed couple from the elders in the family along with gifts of jewelry and saris for the bride. Then, the Bou Bhat ceremony begins for the new husband and wife in which the women blow conch shells, ring bells, and sing religious hymns. The bride does not eat any meals at her in-laws home that day. In the evening, she waers her new sari and enters her new bedroom, which should be beautifully decorated with flowers and sweets from the bride’s relatives.
Return to the Bride’s Home
A few days after the wedding day, the new wife returns to her parents’ home with her new husband. The Purohit cuts the thread which was tied on the bride’s wrist to symbolize the completion of the consummation of the marriage.
-courtesy PlanningElegance.com
